Production of tertiary aliphatic alcohols



Patented July 26, 1949 PRODUCTION OF TERTIARY ALIPEHATIG ALCOHOLS Saul:I.K:Kreps, New York, N. Y, andlFrederick" (3. NachodyHaddonfield, N. 3., assignors torThe Atlantic Refining Company, Philadelphia,rPa.,-

a corporation ofPennsylvania No Dfawingw Application August 30', 1946',-

SerialvNo. 694,162

, 8 Claims. (Cl. 26G -641)- The present. invention-relates toithea-production of tertiary alcoholsuby the :catalytic lhydration of iso-olefins; andvrelates': more particularly to the production" 1 of; tertiary alcohols irom iso-olefins containing :fromse l to 12 carbon atoms: per molecule by. treatment:lwitrrwaterain the, presence of l an organic.hydro-genaion:exchangacatalystzatieles vated temperature. sandspre'ssureo- We have found that substantial yields of tertiary Lalcohols may Lobe:obtainedzfromL iso-olefins of/i =to.12. carbonz'atom'slbycontactingxthe :iso-ole-- fins-With .water; in: .therlpre'sencer ofvan organic ion 7 exchanged materialuhavingrexchangeable hydrogenwions .at temperaturesrrhetwe'enw 150 F. and 300 .1; :andxuncleripressures sufficient-to maintainthe l water: in Lthe diduid phasekzntathes; hydration temperature. 7

The hydrationireaction;lmay be carried out by contactingxthe':isoaolefinilavatenrand. catalyst in a heatedpressureivesselcprovidedlwith meanswfor Iii insuring "vigorous agitation; the :contents 2 of the vessel beingremoved-iupon completion of. the hydration, ,anduthehproduct'srbeing. separated by 7 filtration for idecantatiomi and :iiractional distilla tion. Preferably; however, the hydration is car. i

riednoutaini .;a continuous=:r. nanner= :by passing a mixturecof is'oso1efinrandrlwater; inthesproper ratio and at the :propemspace=yelocity,; through a bed i of catalyst containe'd rin.a pressureoyessel under suitable :1conditionstiof.temperature .and pressure efiective :toi"promotezshydnaticn:of the iso-olefinz The products :of the conversion; including the :tertiary alcohol, may.loerseparaltedwfromrone another? by fractionationgrtaud;unconverted: isoz-olefin :and water mayrloerrecycledito thel-systemfiorlfurther conversion? Theiso-olefins which: mamb e1 employed-include isobutylene isoamylene, risohexylerre; :isoheptylene, iso-octylenegiso-nonylene, ""isoedecylene'; iso-undecyleneaand iso'sfdodccylenegior mixtures of two or more thereof ."r'lhe :hydratiomtemperatures may range from 150. FstosSOflfi'Frrand preferably fall betWBllflQOP F.".t0i QEGi-QE: with optimum; conversions bet'vveeni210ir.Fiiandrr225- rFor The pressure utilized 'incefieoting jhydratiommustr be sufficient to maintain thematenrsubstantiallytinthe liquid phase :at theiioperatinghtemperature; and may range fromzislightlyssuperatmospheric. pressure,-

i.1 e.,'- orzctherorderl 'OfI BO to-50 pounds .per 1 square inch up to 500 poundsipermsquarer inch, i excellent conversions havingizloieen obtainedat 200 to 400 pounds per squar inchi .Thetmain purpose for employlngaelevatedmressureiis to maintain the water in the liquid phase in order that the organic hydrogerrion-iexchange catalystunay function as desired, sincesuchcatalyst.does notappear eiiective whenrithei.waterrisu in the vapor phase. The iso-olefin may or may not be in the liquid phase, and it is immaterial whether such hydrocarbon is maintained:ainhliquid or .vapor phase, or partly inieachphasez. ,Themole ratio of iso-olefin to-:water may-range fromnl to 1 to- 1 to 5, with good conversions in the range of -1 to l. l

to 1 to 2. A ratio somewhat-greater ,orysmaller than given abovemaybeutilized;1 if desired, but in most cases it is preferred wtmm'aintain at. least molar equivalents .of iwaters:to--:iso=-olefin.l In.v

carrying out the hydrationntheispace. velocity, of iso-olefin to catalysti may, ran'geAirQmrOJ gram to 5.0 grams of isorolefinzpengramvof.catalyst per hour, with good -.resu1ts-s;at.space. elocities; of, 0.5 to 1.5. l

The organic hydrogen ionoexchange catalysts useful in accordance with-the present invention are relatively high molecular .weight, water-insoluble resins or carbonaceous materialsncontainingi or a pluralityflorsuchrgrollpsw These; catalysts are exemplified bythe sulfohated coals produced by the treatment.of:,bitumihouswoalslwith sulfuric acid, and commercially marketed as zeolitic water softeners. or baseexchangers. ,These mate-r rials are usually available-u inal.neutralizediorni, and must be activated by treatmentawith mineral acid, such as hydrochloric acid, and water washed to remove hydrogen, sodium, and chloride ions prior to use in accordance ;Withth' present invention. Sulfonated resin type catalysts include the condensation productsiof 'Iihnol-formald'ehyde with sulfuric acid Also useful are" the su1' fonated resinouspolymers of coumarone-indenc' with cyclopentadiene; .sulfonated-- .polymers of coumarone-indene with furfural', sulfonated polymers 'of 'coumarone -:indene with "cyclopentar diene and furfural, and-sulfonatedpolymers of cyclopentadiene with furfuralr. Catalysts; which may contain otherfunctional groups-such-as -OH or (JOOH, in addition to ca-soHiicansbe obtained in the form of l'hard,'" 'resinous granulesby heating a sulfuric acid-solublepolymer-of an aliphatic olefin at temperaturesabetween 250"F. and 350 F. in therpresenceofcsulfiurieacid-for a period of time -sufficient-:to nonvert itheamixture into a water-insoluble; hydrogen ion-exchange compound. This type of.catalystmay. bederived, from spent sulfuric acidwcatalyststwhich have been i used in the alkylation'ofrisoparafiins:with :olefins 1, (isobutane with .butyljenesisiorin .tlre.poly1neriza-., 1

tion of olefins and diolefins, which spent acid may contain from to 20% of dissolved hydrocarbon polymers. The spent sulfuric acid containing the olefin polymers is heated between 250 F. and 350 F. for sufficient time to obtain solidifi cation, but sulionation may commence at a con siderably lower temperature. "The transformation from liquid to granular solid, which is accompanied by the evolution of S02, proceeds through the intermediate formation of a gel. In order to carry the reaction to completion, it is advisable to continue heating for an additional period sub sequent to the granulation andha'rdening oi the gel. The granular product is then washed with water to remove residual or excess acid, and is dried; the final material being hard, black, lustrous grains having hydrogen ion exchange properties. All of the catalysts mentioned above may lose their catalytic efficiency upon long con tinued use, but may be readily regenerated or reactivated by washing with dilute mineral acid, such as 2N hydrochloric acid, and Z thereafter water washed prior to reuse in the hydration re action. W

The present invention may be further i1lustrated by the following examples, which, however, are not to be construed as limiting the scope thereof. v 7

A quantity of an organic hydrogen ion exchange catalyst constitutinggithesodium salt of a sulfonated coal, was admixed with 2N hydrochloric acid, and the mixture was thoroughly stirred for 2 hours, and then washed with water. This treatment was repeated three times, and the final product was Washed free of sodium and chloride ions. The exchange capacity or the acid activated catalyst for calcium ions was found to be 1.47 milliequivalents of Ca+ per gram of catalyst. The catalyst was then introduced into a tower provided with heating means, and thereafter a. mixture of isobutylene and water was passed through the catalyst bed under various conditions of temperature, pressure, space velocity, etc. to obtain hydration of the isobutylene to tertiary butyl alcohol. The products'of the hydration reaction were withdrawn from the catalyst tower and separated by fractionatiom The results obtained are given in the following table-the yields'of alcohol bein based upon once-through operation; Considerably higher yields could, of course, be obtained by recycling the unconverted isobutylene and water.

Run No 1 2 V 3 4 5 6 Weight catalyst,

gra 50 50 75 75 75 75 Weight isobutylene,

grams 107. 3 148. l 187. 2 427. 2 265. 2 265. 1 Weight water, grams. 65. 2 79. 5 e 78. 5 262. O 167. 0 152. 0 Water/isobutylene ratio 1. 8 7 1.67 1. 24 l. 91 1. 96 1. 78

Catalyst Temp. F. 216 305 222 219 179 249 Pressure, p. .s. i. 200 200 200 400 200 200 Space velocity. 0. 54 O. 59 1.16 1.14 l. 17 1.17

Weight per cent i'sobutylene converted to alcohol 52. 6 9. 7 58. 1 60. 7 16. 4 13.1

While, in the above examples, isobutylene alone was employed as the iso-olefin charge'stock, it is likewise possible to obtain substantial yields of tertiary alcohol using hydrocarbon mixtures containing one or more iso-olefins. For example, a mixture of isobutylene and normal butylenes, with or without the corresponding parafiins, may be employed, the normal butylenes and butanes remaining substantially unconverted into alcohols. It appears that only the iso-olefins are hydrated in accordance withthe present invention, and it is therefore preferable to use iso-olefin charge stocks uncontaminated with normal olefins or parafiins in' order to obtain the maximum conversion efficiency.

We claim:

1. The method of producing a tertiary alcohol, which comprises contacting an iso-olefin hydrocarbon and water with an organic hydrogen ion exchange hydration catalyst under hydrating temperature and pressure, and separating the tertiary butyl alcohol from unconverted reactants.

hydration catalyst at a temperature between F. and 300 F. under a superatmospheric pressure sufiicientto maintain the water in the; liquid 1 phase, and separating the tertiary butyl alcohol from unconverted reactants.

5. Themethod of producing tertiary butyl alcohol, which comprises contacting isobutylene and water with an organic hydrogen ion exchange hydration catalyst at a temperature between F. and 250 F. under a pressure between 50 and 500 pounds per square inch, and separating the tertiary butyl alcohol from unconverted reactants.

6. The method of producing tertiary butyl alcohol, which comprises contacting isobutylene and water, in at least equi-molar quantities, with an organic hydrogen ion exchange hydration catalyst at a temperature between 210 F. and 225 F. under a pressure between200 and 400 pounds per square inch, and separating the tertiary butyl alcohol from unconverted reactants.

7. The methodof producing tertiary butyl alcohol, which comprises contacting isobutylene and water, in a mole ratio between 1 to 1 and 1 to 5,; with an..organic hydrogen ion exchange catalyst of the sulfonated resin type at a temperature between 210 F. and 225 F. under a superatmos-l' pheric pressure suiiicient to maintain the water in; the liquid phase, and separating the tertiary butyl alcohol from unconverted reactants.

8. The method of producing tertiary butyl alcor hol, which comprises contacting isobutylene and water, in a mole ratio between 1 to 1 and 1 to 2, with a hydration catalyst comprising essentially a sulfonated coal having hydrogen ion exchange properties, at a temperature between 210 F. and

225 F. under a pressure between 200 and 400 pounds per square inch, and separating the tertiary butyl alcohol from unconverted reactants.

SAUL I. KREPS. FREDERICKC. NACHOD.

(References on following; page) 4. The method of producing tertiary butyl alco- 7, hol, which comprises contacting isobutylene and .1 water with an organic hydrogen ion exchange 3 5 6 REFERENCES CITED FOREIGN PATENTS The following referemces are of record in the Number Country Date file of this patent: 509,710 Great Britain July 19, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 OTHER REFERENCES Number Name Date Berkman et a1, Catalysis, page 731, Elwin- 2, 1 Bent et 1- pr. '7, hold Pub. Corp., N. Y. (1940). 2,042,212 Deanesly May 26, 1935 Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chem- 2,070,258 Coleman et a]. Feb. 9, 1937 istry, v01. 33, No. 6 (June 1941), pages 698 and 2,143,478 Engs et a1. Jan. 10, 1939 w 699, "Synthetic Resins as Exchange Adsorbents. 

